Margin control in minutes before patient closing, with pathology-grade confidence.

The Histolog Scanner is a digital microscopy scanner for ultra-fast confocal imaging of freshly resected tissue. It reveals the morphology of the tissue up to a subcellular level. In the treatment of cancer, the Histolog Scanner can help surgeons to visualize the margins of surgical specimens.

The Clinical Need

When surgically excising a tumor, the challenge for the surgeon is to remove all of the cancerous tissue while preserving as much of the healthy surrounding tissue as possible. This is particularly true for breast conserving surgery and Mohs surgery in dermatology. To make sure that everything appropriate has been removed, the resection is specially prepared in thin slices for microscopy slide analysis in the pathology lab. The preparation of the slides takes time and it is done after the surgery. Pending on results, there may be a need to reoperate the patient for removing the remaining cancerous tissue. The patient care is improved when immediate margin assessment is made available during surgery.

The Histolog Scanner in your clinical practice

In light of this need, SamanTree Medical bonds with surgeons and pathologists to bring confocal microscopy in the operating room. As a result, the Histolog Scanner seamlessly integrates in the operating theater.

Once resected the full surgical specimen is simply dipped in a contrast agent and directly placed on the imaging window of the disposable dish. Within 1 minute the fresh specimen is ready for imaging. There is no need for fixing, nor embedding, nor glass mounting of the resected specimen. Then, within a few seconds, a digital image of the specimen surface is displayed on a touch screen which allows to zoom and move around in the image. Surgeon can visualize suspicious lesion at a glance. The specimen remains intact for later final assessment.

The Histolog Scanner (v1.0 CE-mark, July 2016) has been used in renowned centers to demonstrate its imaging performance in Mohs and breast cancer surgeries.
The release of the upgraded version to accommodate for whole lumpectomy is expected in April 2018.

2016 Clinical study with Prof. Dr. M. Möhrle, dermatologist renown in Mohs surgery based in Tübingen, Germany. University of Tübingen is recognized as one of the largest dermatological cancer center in Europe. Publication pending and related poster here.